Stability of deuterated amorphous silicon solar cells

In order to elucidate the microscopic mechanism for the earlier observed enhanced stability of deuterated amorphous silicon solar cells we conducted a side-by-side study of fully deuterated intrinsic layers on crystalline silicon substrates using the free-electron laser facility at Nieuwegein (FELIX) to resonantly excite the Si-D stretching vibration and measure the various relaxation channels available to these modes, and of p-i-n solar cells with identical intrinsic absorber layers on glass/TCO substrates to record the degradation and stabilization of solar cell parameters under prolonged light soaking treatments. From our comparative study it is shown that a-Si:D has a superior resistance against light-induced defect creation as compared to a-Si:H and that this can now be explained in the light of the 'H collision model' since the initial step in the process, the release of H, is more likely than that of D. Thus, a natural explanation for the stability as observed in a-Si:D solar cells is provided. (C) 2004 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.